A Princess in need of a Hero
by Kaiisan
Summary: Chad/Orihime. Thought they'd be a nice pair    One-Shot.


**yeah, i can't remember if chad's name meant tiger or not, so please correct me if I'm wrong! :D I felt like this would be a cute pair :)**

**Also, this is completely in orihime's pov, but in third person.**

* * *

><p>She tried and failed again. Every day's the same. She tried not to care as she watched Ichigo and Rukia holding hands during lunch today. Or when Ichigo put his arm around Rukia's shoulders on the way home. As she 0said goodbye, she ran inside and put her left hand to her mouth to herself from screaming in frustration, the other clutching the part of her blouse over her heart. She felt tears pouring down her cheeks. Why couldn't she just move on? Why can't she just be happy for them? Why was she still in love with Ichigo?<p>

* * *

><p>She didn't go to school today. Which was totally not what she usually does, but in her depressing state she wouldn't be able to face her friends with her usual happy mask. Instead she called the school to say she's come down with a stomach flu and will be taking today and tomorrow off. Luckily, she was in such good terms with her senpai that she didn't even need to forge a fake doctor's note as her senpai said it was not nessary to bring one. She thanked him, coughed for extra measure, and hung up. She spent the morning lying on her bed facing the ceiling, eyes too heavy to keep open, but not tired enough to fall asleep. Around lunch she got up and grabbed her phone, turning it on. It chimed insistantly with messages and missed calls.<p>

**1 missed call from the contact Ishida Uryuu.**

**4 missed calls from the contact Tatsuki_(:**

**3 missed calls from the contact Sado-kun(:**

"Why has Sado-kun called so many times?" she whispered. She read her text messages next.

_**Ishida Uryuu**_

**Are you okay? **

She sighed.

**Yes. Just stomach flu.(:**

A moment later, her phone chimed again.

**I don't believe you, but I won't bother you about it if you don't want to talk about it.**

She breathed a sigh of relief.

**Thank you(:**

She clicked onto the next text. Actually, there were four more. Three from Tatsuki, which read:

**YO ORIHIME! Renji here, i stole Tat's fone. u ok?**

**Hi Inoue! Sorry bout Renji. But srsly, u ok?**

**Oh, every1 says hi. xXx**

She smiled at the mental picture of Renji and Tatsuki fighting over Tatsuki's phone, yelling like a married couple. Though Renji insists he _will_ marry her when their older. She remembered when Tatsuki, Rukia, Matsumoto, Momo and herself had snuck up to the door of the male changing rooms and over heard their conversation while trying to get a peak of them only yesterday. It had been both fun and devastating.

_"~Hey Shiro-chan, come to my house after school!~" Renji mimicked Momo in a high-pitched voice._

_" ~Please Shiro-chan, I love your kisses! ~ " mimicked someone who sounded like Kakku._

_Ichigo and everyone apart from Chad and Uryuu burst into laughter. Chad and Uryuu were smirking, however. Toushirou growled at Renji and Kakku, and kicked them swiftly in the stomach. He wasn't the captain of the soccer team for nothing. His kicks were legend. _

_"Shut up Renji, look at you and Tatsuki." Toushirou retorted, smirking. _

_"What's wrong with me and Tats?" Renji replied._

_"You two act as if you're married! You've only been going out with her for a while and it looks as though you want to marry her!"_

_"Well, what's wrong with that?" Renji yelled, though we could tell he was blushing. "When we're old enough, maybe I _will_ marry her!"_

She remembed Tatsuki blushing and Matsumoto trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Inoue was also stifling giggles. Though what came next was the devastating part.

_"So Ichigo, you mentioned going out with someone now. Spill."_

_"Well..."_

_"OH COME ON! TELL US ALREADY!"_

_**Smack.**_

_"Owww."_

_"I plan on asking Rukia out. I really like her."_

_"Wow."_

_"Brave, dude."_

_"I can't wait to see her kick you in the nuts."_

_"She won't do that!"_

_"What about Inoue?" Chad asked quietly. All the guys turned to him, then to Ichigo. _

_"He has a point."_

_"Yeah, Inoue really does have it in for you."_

_"Well, she'll have to accept it."_

_Orihime blushed and the girls had retreated away from the door, all of them not catching the bit about Inoue. Except Inoue herself. _

She sighed. Ichigo had asked Rukia out, then here we are. She finally replied to their texts.

**I'm fine, Tatsuki-chan. Tell Renji to stop stealing your phone if you don't like it though. :)**

_**New Message.**_

**But then i dont hav a reason 2 hit him! ;)**

She smiled, then read the last text. Surprisingly, it was from Sado-kun.

**I know you don't have a flu. Meet me at 6:30pm at Karakuru Lake.**

She frowned at his weird text, but replied all the same.

**Fine. But only if we're alone.**

_**New Message.**_

**Ok. **

Sado-kun arrived a few minutes late. "I have a good reason." he smiled, whipping out two slushies from where he was holding them behind his back. Then he took in what she was wearing. It wasn't her usual attire of flower printed skirts and shirts. Rather, she was wearing a plain, above the knee black skirt and black tights with plain white trainers. She had a plain white tank top on and a red zip-up hoodie over it. She smiled almost sadly as he handed her one of the cola slushies. She sipped appreciately.

"Thank you, Sado-kun." she smiled. He however, simply sat down on the bench next to her.

"Why weren't you at school." he murmured quietly, as if he already knew but was waiting to hear what I would say. She hesitated.

"Flu..."

"If you had flu," he said quietly. "You would have declined meeting here and I would've gone to yours instead."

"Well..." she thought quickly. "Lets go to mine now then. So I won't get worse?"

"I know you're not ill, Inoue-san. So lets just walk around the lake for a while." He got up and offered his hand. Slowly, she took it. He squeezed her hand gently and let go again. It was silent for a while as they slurped their slushies. They threw the cups away when they were finished.

"I know its about Ichigo." Chad said suddenly. Inoue ducked her head and tried not to blush. "I know thats why you weren't at school. But you shouldn't be so upset about it."

"I'm not upset," she said weakly. Chad eyed her.

"You missed school, wrecking your perfect attendance. I think you're upset."

She couldn't say anything to that.

There was a funfair on the other side of the lake. By the time they reached it, the subject had moved on and they were currently discussing what they could do at this fair. They noticed a bunch of balloons pinned carefully to the wall of the stand. "Pop five balloons in a row, win a teddy. $3" said a sign nearby.

She tugged on Chad's arm. "Lets do that!" She paid for her turn and managed three in a row. She one a keychain with a heart on it, but no teddy.

Sado-kun was up next. Taking aim, he threw them straight after another.

_**Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.**_

"Wow, Sado-kun! You're really good!" Inoue gasped. He smiled at her complement.

"I play darts." he shrugged. The man told him he could pick. But he simply shook his head. "Let my friend choose something for me. She can have my prize." Inoue gasped at him, smiling.

"Really Sado-kun? Thank you!" She chose a soft cuddly Tiger.

"Your name means Tiger, right?"

"Yeah."

"Thats why I chose it." she blushed. It was getting late, so Sado-kun walked her home. But Inoue didn't want him to leave so quickly, so she made him a hot chocolate. Her thoughts drifted off to Ichigo again...

"Stop thinking about him."

Inoue jumped in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"You need to move on, Inoue. He loves Rukia. He simply isn't your soul mate. There are other guys out there." Chad got up to go.

"Chad." Orihime said suddenly, getting up too. He stopped infront of the door without opening it. Suddenly she ran over and embraced him in a fierce hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her head in his shoulder. He grunted at the impact. He slowly wrapped his arms around her lower back.

They stood silently for a couple moments before Chad whispered faintly. "Why are you hugging me?"

Orihime pulled away so that she could look into his startled eyes. She was blushing. "Because you made me realise that there are more guys out there for me than just Ichigo." she smiled. "But there's an even better guy for me right here."

It was his turn to blush now. "What? How did you..." She silenced him by placing her finger on his lips.

"Because you always try to make me feel special when everyone else don't bother." she smiled. Blushing, she stood on her tip toes and pulled him into a sweet kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>And that, my friend, is where this story closes :D R&amp;R? Poll?<strong>


End file.
